Lithuanian civic empowerment in the last few years was not growing and still remains fairly poor. There are less people who are willing to engage in activities solving problems. It is recognized that there is a lack of independent monitoring and comment of public policy on purpose to provide society with impartial information on violations of human rights and civil process.

The aim of the Project is to ensure civil and political rights by fostering conscious, active participation of citizens in public life of the state.

Objectives of the Project:
1. To develop tools of monitoring and comment of public policy and civil dialogue on purpose to involve civil society in the processes of policy making and decision making.
2. To foster and empower civic awareness of local communities through open discussions and initiatives of active citizenship.

The project will result in enhanced NGO involvement into the partnership with local and national authorities through developed tools of civil dialogue and increased number of citizens participated in NGOs’ activities.
Target group – local communities, NGOs, non-formal initiative groups, especially Youth under the age of 29; beneficiaries – general society.

Main activities:

• Civitas discussion clubs is a network of local communities that gather together and with the help of invited lectors discuss different public issues. The goal of these activities is to expand the space of open discussions in the Lithuanian regions, strengthen civic dialogue and enhance democratic values.
  More about Civitas programme here.
  Contact person: Akvilė Kazlauskaitė, akvile@civitas.lt

• “The White Gloves” (Lithuanian: „Baltosios pirštinės“) is a politically-independent watchdog organization that bases its activities on a national network of volunteers, who monitor national elections in Lithuania and reports all unlawful practices to law enforcement agencies. Within the project framework the White Gloves is monitoring the upcoming Lithuanian municipality elections of 2015.
  More about the White Gloves and their activities: www.baltosiospirstines.lt
  Contact person: Marija Šaraitė marija@baltosiospirstines.lt

• Public life monitoring and political process analysis. Two public life analysts will be monitoring political processes, upholding contacts with government institutions and media, informing Lithuanian society on political issues and making research on important public topics. Within the projects’ framework, the Civic Empowerment Index of 2015 will be also carried out.
  Contact person: Ieva Petronytė, ieva@civitas.lt

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The Project is financed by the NGO programme in Lithuania of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (EEA Grants). More information: http://eeagrants.org/